Strategies for engaging with non-academic actors – Illustrations from a BARSEA project

Participants in the Barsea project “Comparative Public Law and European Legal identity” were asked to develop their strategy for engaging with non-academic actors. From their strategies, answers to three different questions can be flagged up:

How to engage with non-academic actors when we undertake research in comparative public law?

With whom are we trying to engage?

Why do we seek to engage with non-academic actors?

These questions and their answers may be useful for other researchers when designing their onw strategies. Each research project is distinctive, yet sharing information about what we are doing can spark ideas, suggestions or inspiration in one form or another. If you want to share your own ideas for approaching these questions, please do contact ushere.

How do we try to engage with non-academic actors?

Knowing the landscape

the policy landscape for decision-making; the key actors in the field, the networks they are operating in, the conferences they are attending => then reaching out to them

distinguishing different categories of non-academic actors (with their different interests, strategies) (and tailoring the strategy accordingly)

Being useful to the non-academic actors

Submissions to consultations (eg Law Commission; House of Commons, Holyrood)

Our research contributing to / analysing the development of shared ideas, practices and principles across Europe

Making a change

Influencing changes/reforms in the law, in practice

Influencing political debates on key policy choices

Yseult Marique, Essex Law School

October 2016

(Suggested citation: Y.Marique, “Strategies for engaging with non-academic actors – Illustrations from a BARSEA project”, available at https://europeancommonwealth.org/2016/10/24/strategies-for-engaging-with-non-academic-actors-illustrations-from-a-barsea-project)